Sewing-machine.



A EPPLER.

SEWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-2411!"!- 1,286,2640 Patented Dec. 3, 1918..

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A EPPLER. SEWING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 24,1911- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

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ANDREW EPPLER, OF LYNN, 'MASSAGHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO

UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPO- RATION OF NEW JERSEY.

SEWING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANDIi'nw EPrLnR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sewing-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as'will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to chain-stitch sewing-machines of the type employing a hookneedle, and it is particularly applicable to machines employed for sewing the inseams of boots and shoes, although in certain aspects the invention is not limited to that particular application.

The general object of the invention is to improve the mode of operation of the thread-handling devices of a sewing-machine of the type in question. More specifically, one object of the invention is to provide for an effective setting or tightening of the stitches, while limiting the extent to which it is necessary for the thread to reeve around the work and the thread-handling devices in connection with this operation. To this end the machine of the present in vention is provided with a thread-finger which is so formed and operated that, in addition to performing the usual function of providing and giving up slack thread to the needle during the retracting movement of the latter, the thread-finger also performs the function of pulling upon the thread between the needle-loop and the work, and thereby shortens the preceding loop around the needledoop to any desired extent.

Another specific object of the invention is to reduce the movement of the looper, in such a manner as to permit it to be performed by an easier cam action. To this end the thread-finger is caused to cooperate with the looper, in laying the thread in the hook of the needle, in such a manner that the usual encircling movement of the looper is ren- 'dered unnecessary and the looper movements are reduced to simple to-and-fro reciprocations or oscillations.

Another object of the invention is to render the threading of the thread-finger and needle more certain. In inseam-sewing machines of the usual construction it has been found that the projecting margin of the upper of the lasted shoe sometimes indirection as to press the upper away from the path of movement of the looper.

Another object of the invention is to secure accuracy in the measurement. by the thread-finger, of the thread which is subsequently given up by it to the needle. This ObJOCt is attained by causing the threadfinger, in measuring the thread, to occupy a posltion such that the thread is extended directly from the seam to the thread-finger, instead of being drawn around the edge of the channel-flap, as a fulcrum, in the usual manner.

Other objects of the invention, and the features of construction by which they are attained, will be set forth in connection with the following description of the preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the accompanving drawings Figures 1 to 7, inclusive, are diagrammatic views showing, in side-elevation, successive positions of the needle. the thread-linger and the looper, of a machine embodying the present invention, which these parts assume in the performance of their cycle of operations, a portion of the sole and upper of a shoe being shown in section; Figs. 8 to 14, inclusive, are plan-views corresponding respectively to Figs. 1 to '1', and showing the shoe in section on the plane of the seam; and Fig. 15 is a side-elevation of the entire machine, with parts broken away.

As the present invention resides particularly in the relative movements of the needle, the thread-finger and the looper in the formation of the seam, the invention will be best understood by reference to the diagrammatic views in Figs. 1 to 14;. The machine is provided with the usual curved hook-needle 20, which is oscillated forwardly and rearwardly about its center of curvature. The thread-finger 22 is in the form of an arm with a hooked extremity, the thread-receiving recess of the hook opening forwardly, in stead of rearwardly as in the usual threadfinger of machines of the type in question. The looper 24 is in the form of the usual eye, through which the thread passes this eye being formed integrally at the end of an arm 34; by which it is actuated.

The machine is shown as operating upon a turn-shoe, having a sole 26 which has been shouldered and channeled in the usual manner, so as to provide a between-substance 28 for the reception of the seam and a channelfiap 30 to cover the seam upon the inside of the sole. The upper 82 is secured against the shoulder by the chain-side of the scam, in the usual manner.

The looper 24 has, instead of the usual encircling movement, a simple oscillatory movement in a path shown by the dot-anddash line 00 in Fig. 8. The thread-finger 22 moves in a generally forward and rearward direction, as usual, but this movement takes place for the most part in front of the channel, and in addition to this forward and rearward movement the thread-finger has a slight lateral movement. The path of movement of thethread-finger is shown in Fig. 8 by the dot and dash line y.

Figs. 1 and 8 show the position of the parts shortly after the feed-movement has been produced in the usual manner, and when the needle, in its advancing movement, is about to enter the work. At this time the thread-finger is retracted but has begun to move forwardly, while the looper has swung to its left-hand position. As the needle advances the thread-finger passes forwardly directly beneath the looper, so as to catch the stretch of thread between the looper and the work, as shown in Figs. 2 and 9, and the thread-finger then continues to move forwardly, and also somewhat to the right, thus drawing out a bight of thread between the looper and the work. At. the same time the looper swings to the right, that is, contrary to the direction of feed, and the result of these two movements is to stretch the thread between the looper and the thread-finger and then draw the thread, so stretched, against the side of the needle, as shown in Figs. 3 and 10. Since the hook of the needle is, as usual, upon its left-hand side, the thread so drawn against the needle enters the hook during the retracting movement of the needle", and the needle is thus threaded or looped without any encircling movement by the looper.

As the needle retracts, after being threaded, the thread-finger at first retreats at such a rate as to give up thread from the bight 96, held by it, to the needle as fast as required, so as to avoid reeving of the thread through the needle. This is indicated in Figs. 4, 5, 11 and 12. Before the needle has completed its retracting movement the thread-finger is so operated as to pull upon the bight 96, and thus shorten the preceding loop 92, which is anchored by the needle-loop 94. This shortening action is produced by a check in the retreating movement of the thread-finger, and this check may be either a partial or a complete cessation of the retreating movement of the thread-finger, or, in fact, a slight reversal of this movement. In Figs. 6 and 13 the thread-finger is shown as making an actual advance for the purpose in question, and it may be understood that in this case the retreating moveinent of the needle is momentarily arrested. As shown in these figures the result of this check in the retreat of the thread-finger is to shorten the preceding loop. After the loop 92 has been shortened by the thread-finger asjust described, the retreat of the thread-finger is resumed, so as to carry the finger to a position behind the edge of the channel-flap 80, as shown in Figs. 7 and 14. This causes the bight 96 to be cast off from the thread-finger, and the needle thereupon continues its retraction so as to take up the thread remaining in this bight and thus bring the thread to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 8.

Although the thread-finger acts to shorten the preceding loop as just described, and thereby promotes the proper setting of the stitch, it is preferable that dependence be not placed wholly upon the thread-finger for the production of stitch-setting tension, but the machine is preferably provided with a take-up which is so actuated that, when the parts are in the position of Figs. 2 and 9, the take-up pulls upon the thread, and

thus, by utilizing the needle as a fulcrum in the usual manner, causes the needle-loop to pull upon the preceding loop, which has previously been shortened by the threadfinger in the manner described. Thus in Fig. 8 the preceding loop 92 is shown as having been shortened around the needleloop 94, and in Fig. 9 the preceding loop is shown as tightened and drawn more or less into the material by the tension to which the needle-loop is subjected by the takeup, the stitch being thus set.

The movements of the needle, the threadfinger and the looper which have been de scribed, may be imparted to these instrumentalities by any ordinary or suitable mechanism. Fig. 15 shows a machine constructed in accordance with the present invention, in which the mechanisms employed are for the most part the same as those disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States No. 1,108,560, granted to the present applicant August 25, 1914. In the present case, however, the functions of the mech anisms for actuating the looper and the thread-finger are interchanged, the present thread-finger being actuated by mechanism which is substantially that previously employed to actuate the looper in the machine of the patent, while the present looper is actuated by mechanism differing but slightly from that previously employed to actuate the thread-finger. As shown in Fig. 15, the looper-arm 34 is fixed to the lower end of a short rock-shaft which is journaled, in a position slightly inclined from the vertical, in a bearing on the frame of the machine. An arm 38, fixed to the upper end of the rock-shaft and extending laterally therefrom, is connected, by a link 40, with the shorter arm of a bell-crank lever 42 pivoted on a stud 44 on the frame of the machine. The longer arm of the lever carries a roller 46 which engages a lateral cam-path in one of the usual cam-disks 48 mounted on the cam-shaft 50 of the machine. The mechanism just described operates to impart oscillatory movements of the looper about, the axis of the rock-shaft 36, these movements being in a short are which extends substantially parallel with the line of feed. It will be apparent that these movements can be produced by a cam-path of simple and easy form, which will permit the loopermovement to be erformed in an unusually small fraction of the complete cycle of operations, thuspermitting the machine to be organized so as to operate more rapidly than is the case where the looper is required to perform an encircling movement around the needle.

The thread-finger 22 is in the form of an arm having a cleft forward extremity which is adjustably clamped upon a rod 52. This rod is mounted, in a nearly upright position, in a sleeve 54, within which it is free both to turn and to slide. The sleeve 54 is in: tegral with a sleeve 56 which extends forwardly and rearwardly at a right-angle to the sleeve 54, and the sleeve 56 is journaled upon a stud 58 which projects from the forward end of a slide 60. This slide moves forwardly and rearwardly in a slightly inclined guideway 62 on the frame of the machine, and the slide is actuated bymeans of a roller 64 at its rear end, which engages a lateral cam-path 66 on one of the cam-disks 48. By the movements of the slide the forward and rearward movements are imparted to the thread-finger. The transverse movements are produced by rocking the parts upon the stud 58. For this purpose the upper end of the rod 52 is provided with a sleeve 68 which loosely embraces a rod 70 projecting forwardly from an arm 72. This arm is fixed on the forward end of a rockshaft 74, which is journaled in the frame of the machine parallel with the guide-way 62. An arm 76, depending from the rear end of the rock-shaft 74, carries a roller 78 which engages a peripheral path in one of the cam-disks 48. When the rock-shaft 74 is rocked by means of the roller 7 8 the rocking movements are imparted, by the rod 70, to the sleeve 68, and thence to the rod 52 upon which the thread-finger is mounted. The sleeve 68 is free to slide upon the rod 70 to accommodate the parts to the move ments of the slide 60, while the rod 52 is free to move slightly in a longitudinal direction in the sleeve 54 to compensate for the non-concentric relation of the rock-shaft 74 and the stud 58. Notwithstanding these slight movements of accommodation, it will be apparent that the movements of the operative extremity of the thread-finger are limited approximately to a plane inclined slightly to the horizontal and parallel with, and slightly below, the plane in which the loo er oscillates.

n addition to the parts before enumerated the machine is provided with the usual back-gage 80, back-rest 82, feed-point 84, channel-guide 86, take-up 88, and tensiondevices 90, which may all be operated by mechanism shown and described for that purpose in the said Patent No. 1,108,560 with the understanding, however, that the operation of these parts is timed in proper coordination with the operation of the threadfinger and the lOOper before described.

Although the thread-finger has been described as actuated by mechanism similar to that employed to actuate the looper of the machine of the said Patent No. 1,108,560, it will be understood that such mechanism is employed for this purpose only as a matter of convenience, and that the forms of the cam-paths by which the rollers 64 and 78 are actuated must necessarily be somewhat different from those employed to actuate the corresponding parts in the said patent. The movements of the thread-finger in the present machine are so much simpler than t 0sc of the looper in the machine of the said patent that the cams may have an easier form, thus permitting the shortening of the part of the cycle of operations assigned to the movements of the thread-handling devlces.

Although the needle is looped, in the present machine, without an encircling movement by the looper, the result is the same in so far as the position of the thread in the barb of the needle is concerned, so that the machine makes the half-twisted seam which is commonly employed and which is deemed preferable to an untwisted seam.

When the thread-finger measures the thread it occupies a position, as shown in Fig. 3, such that the thread is stretched directly from the seam to the thread-finger. For this reason the thread is measured with an accuracy which is impossible where the thread-finger is so operated as to draw the thread around the edge of the channel-flap, asin the familiar forms of inseam machines. This accurate measurement is valuable because it permits the allowance of exactly the amount of thread necessary to permit the seam to be drawn tightly into the channel, by the retreating movement of the needle, without any reeving 0f the thread in the needle or any danger of causing the thread to cut into the between-substance.

The invention is not limited to the em:

bodiment thereof hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, but it may be embodied in various other forms within the nature of the invention as it is defined in the following claims.

Where the terms forward, rearward, etc., are used in the claims it must be understood that these terms are intended to indicate merely the relative movements and positions of the parts, and not to limit the claims to any ahsolute positions or directions of movement.

The nature and scope of the present invention having been indicated, and its preferred embodiment having been specifically described, what is claimed as new is 1. A chain-stitch sewingmachine having, in combination, a hook-needle; a looper; a thread-finger; and mechanism, for actuating the looper and the thread-finger, constructed and arranged to move the looper and the thread-finger to positions respectively behind and in front of the path of the needle, and then toward the needle so as to lay the thread, stretched between the threadfinger and the looper, in the hook of the needle.

2. A chain-stitch inseam-sewing machine having, in combination, a hook-needle; a looper; a take-up; a thread-finger; and mechanism, for actuating the thread-finger, constructed and arranged to move it, before the retreat of the needle, to a position outside the seam, and then inwardly so as to give up thread during the retreat of the needle.

3. A chain-stitch inseam-sewing machine having, in combination, a hook-needle; a looper; a take-up; a thread-finger; and mechanism, for actuating the thread-finger, constructed and arranged to move it, before the retreat of the needle, to a position outside the seam, and then inwardly so as to give up thread during the retreat of the needle, the inward movement of the threadfinger being checked, before the completion of the needlemovement, sufficiently to cause the thread to reeve over the thread-finger and take up slack from the last preceding loop. I

i. A chain-stitch sewing-machine having, in combination, a hook-needle; a looper; a thread-finger; and mechanism, for actuating the thread-finger and the looper, constructed and arranged to cause the looper to lay the thread in the thread-finger, and thereafter to move the parts to a position in which the thread-finger is in front of the looper while the latter draws the thread against the needle.

5. A chain-stitch inseam-sewing machine Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the 1 ,esaeee having, in combination, a hook-needle; means, for actuating the needle, constructed and arranged to advance it from the edge into the channel of a shoe-sole; a looper; a thread-finger; and mechanism for actuating the looper and the thread-finger, constructed and arranged to cause the looper to lay the thread in the thread-finger, and to move the thread-finger first to a point in front of the channel, then rearwardly during the retreat of the needle, and finally across the edge of the channel-flap to cast off the thread from the thread-finger.

6. A chain-stitch sewing-machine having, in combination, a hook-needle; a looper; a thread-finger with a forwardly-open threadrecess; and mechanism, for actuating the looper and the thread-finger, constructed and arranged to move the thread-finger forwardly across the stretch of thread between the work and the looper, so as to enter the thread in said recess and bring the threadfinger to a point in front of the looper, and then to move the looper contrary to the direction offeed, so as to draw against the side of the needle the stretch of thread between the looper and the thread-finger.

7. A chain-stitch inseam-sewingmachine having, in combination, a hook-needle; a

looper; a thread-finger; mechanism for moving the looper in a path substantially parallel with the seam and entirely behind the position occupied by the end of the needle when the latter is fully advanced; and mechanism for moving the thread-finger in a path extending, from a point in the rear of the edge of the channel-flap, to a point in front of said position of the end of the needle.

8. A chain-stitch inseam-sewing machine having, in combination, a hook-needle; a take-up; a looper; a thread-finger, mechanism for actuating the take-up to exert a stitch-setting strain on the thread while the needle is in the work; and mechanism for moving the thread-finger forwardly and rearwardly in a path extending to a point ANDREW EPPLER.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. (3. 

